Nico POV
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I feel the ground break underneath me. Compared to Tartarus, it is a relatively short fall. Finally, I land in a cool pool of water. Shivering, I pull myself out. My eyes adjust to the darkness around me.
It appears as though I'm in a cave. The walls are dripping wet and the ground is a rough concrete. The temperature is below freezing, and, in dripping wet clothing, even as a child of Hades, I am in danger of frostbite.
Why you might ask? Well, in caves, the temperature is naturally cold, and because the water in the cave has been sitting for Zeus knows how long, it would be very cold. This, on top of the ten-degree air, would kill someone in under an hour. I might have one and a half. Maybe more, if I'm lucky.
I look around at my surroundings. There are stalactites and stalagmites everywhere, and they look sharp enough to penetrate even the strongest armor. Then, I notice a faint red glow in the center of the room. Atop a pedestal, sits the helm of Ares.
This is too easy, I think to myself. Nevertheless, I go forward and attempt to remove the helmet. My hands, which are slowly turning blue, reach towards it slowly, testing the waters. The second my fingers touch the metal, blackness envelops me.
I awake to find a girl's face peering down at me. Then the pain sets in. It's excruciating. My body feels so... It hits me. My nerves are shorting out. Someone has doused me in the water yet again, causing hypothermia to set in much faster.
"What-what happened?" I mumble drowsily.
"He has requested this," the female voice says. The voice is melodic and silky.
"Are you a nymph?" I ask, trying to sit up.
A cool hand pushes me back down. "Don't try," she says. "It's no use. He'll kill me if I don't obey. Just die quickly so that I might be free."
"Just die quickly?" I scoff. "Gee, thanks. Who's he?" My vision clears and I can see the girl clearly. Obviously, she is a water nymph. She is wearing a silky blue dress with smooth pond stones adorning her neck.
The nymph looks around warily. "I can't- I can't tell you," she replies nervously.
"Please, you've got to let me go!" I plead with a weak voice. "I'm on a quest to find some godly items that were lost. My... friends... I think anyway.... Are waiting for me up there. And I need that helm." I weakly raise a shivering hand to point at the glowing red helmet.
"What can you offer me?" the nymph frowns.
"I am The Ghost King, son of Hades," I breathe. I'm desperate. If I don't get warm soon, my body will go into shock. Then, amputation. Possible coma. "Maybe I can convince my father to bring you back; if he kills you."
The nymph chews her bottom lip. "Swear it. Swear it on the River Styx that you will try your absolute best to bring me back."
I gulp. "I swear on the River Styx, that I, Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, the Ghost King, will try my absolute best to bring you back to life when the quest finishes." I hear a faint roll of thunder.
The nymph nods, satisfied. She then sashays over to the helm and hands it to me. "The stairs are that way." The nymph gently helps me to my feet. However, when I try to stand on my own, my knees buckle and I fall to the ground. But the nymph is gone.
"Just great," I mutter to myself. "Trapped underground, dying from the cold, and carrying the freaking helm of Ares. Just what I wanted to be doing." Slowly, yet surely, I dragged myself all the way to the bottom of the stairs, clutching the helm in my arm. Then I pull myself up, step, by step, my body slowly going numb. My nerves are short-circuiting, and it won't be long before my limbs shut down completely.
After what seems like ages and ages of climbing, I see a sliver of sunlight, however, it offers me no warmth. It must be almost night. It's harder going now, but I keep going. I have to give the helm to someone. Finally, I reach the top. A cool breeze blows across my wet skin, but it gives me pain instead of relief.
"Help," I moan weakly. My vision is growing blurry. "Help...." Faintly, I can hear footsteps.
"Oh my gods," another female voice says, though it sounds weak. "Leo, come help me! It's Nico!" A pair of warm hands caress my face, but I'm too far gone for it to do any good.
"It's hypothermia," another voice with a southern accent says. "We need to get him over to Festus."
'Who's Festus?' my brain thinks. Vaguely, I can remember the name. Something to do with a dragon.... I feel myself moving and suddenly burning hot air rushes over me, though on my cold skin, it feels like a warm bath. I close my eyes as a deep sleep consumes me.
"What happened to him?"
"It looks like he got dumped in some freezing water, then got left in near sub-zero temperatures." I groan and move my head which causes a spark of pain.
"Ow!" My voice is surprisingly weak and scratchy.
"Nico!" A brown face appears over my head. "Are you okay? You've been out for four hours."
"Four hours?" I exclaim, sitting straight up. My back cracks. "Ah, wait that hurts, gimme a second!"
"Finally acting your age Death Boy?" Leo grins at me. I scowl at him, but Leo just smiles. Does this kid ever stop smiling?
"Where's the helm?" I inquire, noticing its absence.
"We put it underneath Festus," Ryan tells me. "Don't worry," he says, seeing my skeptical look. "With Leo, Chey and I's abilities, no monster is getting to that thing without losing a few limbs. Preferably a vital one." I turn to look at everyone in turn.
Merrily's face is tear streaked. David looks disappointed. Ryan looks mischievous as usual. Chey looks extremely tired and pale, what with the bandage around her neck. Leo looks happy, as usual, but he has bags under his eyes. Abigail looks generally worried.
"Why do you guys look so worried?" I ask.
Chey looks at me disbelievingly. "What, did you think you could come out of a hole, practically blue and expect us to dance around a maypole?"
"Uh, no, but, um...." I stutter. I had actually expected them to just leave me there, to be honest. Take the helm, say 'Gee whiz, I suppose he's too far gone' and then fly off.
"Did you think we'd just leave you for dead?" Merrily asks me. I look down, not meeting her eyes.
"You're an idiot di Angelo, you know that right?" Chey laughs. "Now, get your %$#@ up off the ground and let's go. Next up is David's hometown."
David looks grim. "I hate that place." Chey and Merrily help me up onto Festus first and everyone else follows suit. Chey hands me a blanket.
"We'll be traveling through the higher parts of the troposphere and you are barely getting over hypothermia. You'll need it." Chey smiles kindly at me and then turns to the front of the metal dragon. I curl up inside the blanket as I'm already freezing cold. Festus flaps his bronze wings and we're off.
The flight is quiet for the first few minutes. We rise up, almost close enough to touch the clouds. I see Merrily lean closer to Leo for warmth and I feel a pang of loneliness. Then a warm hand touches my shoulder.
"It's nothing against you," Chey whispers. "It's just that your body temperature is about eighty degrees right now and Leo's is around one hundred eight." I nod and turn my attention to in front of us.
Suddenly, a harsh wind nearly sweeps me right off of Festus. I hear screaming.
"Ahhh!" Abigail screams. "Help me!" Abigail is holding on to one of Festus's scales while a wind tries to take her away. David is closest to her.
"David, you need to grab her!" Merrily shouts. Leo and Chey are busy trying to keep Festus in the air and Ryan, Merrily and I are almost falling off. David is the only one who has a firm stance. He hesitates.
"Grab her!" Chey screams. Some very violent cursing follows suit.
"Please help!" Abigail sobs. One hand slips off of Festus. Abigail is barely hanging on. I stand up, nearly falling off in the process.
"Nico, no!" Chey shrieks. "It's too dangerous!"
"I did my part!" I call back. I climb over Festus's wobbling back and grab Abigail's hand. Whatever is pulling on her is strong and I've already been weakened. Suddenly, a pair of strong hands grab my waist and pull. I don't even care who it is, I just pull along with them. Finally, Abigail pops up over the edge of Festus. I look behind me to see a pale-faced David.
"What were you thinking?" I demand angrily. "We both could have died!"
"But you didn't," David counters, his face regaining that familiar nasty look. My fists close at my sides and I can tell the temperature has dropped by several degrees by the way everyone is shivering. Suddenly, everything goes black.
I wake up (again) and find myself falling through the air. "AHHHHH!" I scream. "What's happening!" I can feel a pair of arms around my waist.
"Festus malfunctioned!" Merrily says down to me. "Leo is trying to fix him, but I'm not sure."
"Where are we?" I ask.
"Over California!" she says. "Don't worry, Chey has the helm." After that, the fall down was pretty boring. Like, I know how usually when people are falling, they are often screaming, but our lives are never normal. Falling out of the sky while your teammate tries to fix a bronze dragon and quite possibly one of the most beautiful people in the world holds onto your waist is pretty calming.
"Got it!" Leo's shout snaps me out of my thoughts as Festus springs to life in midair. Reaching out my hands, I grab onto one of Festus's scales and steady myself and Chey. "We're coming in for a rough landing!" Leo shouts over his shoulder. "Hold on tight!" Ten seconds later, Festus is skidding on the wet grass and we all go flying off his back.
I spit out a bunch of grass and rub my back. "Rough is an understatement," I groan.
"Quit your groaning death boy," Chey grins. I scowl at her.
"We'll make camp for tonight," Merrily tells us. "We'll go to David's house in the morning." Luckily for us, getting a fire started isn't too hard considering that we have a fire user with us. Chey and Ryan disappear for a bit and then come back with plenty of provisions. I can faintly hear police sirens.
"How did you..." Merrily begins to ask, then pauses. "Never mind." The food we got was pretty good. Raw hamburger patties, which Leo grilled over the fire and bags of chips.
So David," Abigail begins hesitantly. "I assume you remember where your house is?"
David sneers at her. "Of course I do." Okay, now that's not exactly what he said. What he said was more like &%*$ you &%$#, what are you $%&$ at? Of course, I &%$#@ know where my house is. $%#@ you!" The reactions of everyone varied. Abigail looked incredibly insulted. Chey looked as though she didn't know whether to compliment him or reprimand him. Merrily looked downright angry. Ryan... I couldn't tell. Leo looked shocked.
"Well, now that we have that sorted," Chey says, clearly trying to suppress a smile. Everyone disperses into separate groups to talk, except for me. Chey and Abigail are arguing about something or other. David and Ryan are whispering furtively. Leo goes over to talk to Merrily. I suddenly feel a giant pang of jealousy. Then I can see their faces change as they talk. Leo looks kind at first and he gently touches her arm, slightly pushing up her sleeve. He then says something. Then, as quick as lightning, Merrily's hand jumps out and punches Leo square in the face.
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Okay, I had major writers block doing this chapter, so I'm sorry if it's not quite up to par. I hope ya'll like it, and thanks to MerrliyE and Cheyenne1J for always commenting (death threats) and voting!
Please vote and comment!